Page 1 of 3 Next >>First raced early in 1981 the Audi Quattro revolutionized rallying. It was the first rally car to successfully use all-wheel drive. Once the competition caught on and the Quattro's weak spots were revealed; it was too long and heavy. Especially the bespoke rally cars built to the new for 1982 Group B regulations had the edge over the original Quattro. After two evolutions, it was eventually replaced by the brand new Sport Quattro in 1984.

Just like the other manufacturers, Audi used the lenient homologation requirements to create a new rally car. All they needed for homologation was a production run of just 200 cars. There was a distinct difference though in Audi's approach as the Roland Gumpert led engineers used the existing 'urQuattro' design as a basis. The likes of Peugeot and Lancia went one step further by developing their Group B racers from the ground up around custom-built spaceframe chassis.

One of the original Quattro's biggest problems was addressed by shortening the wheelbase. A section of 320 mm (12.6 inches) was cut from the chassis behind the doors. With the engine still mounted ahead of the front axle, the short wheelbase Sport Quattro had massive overhangs that made for very strange proportions. Further weight was cut by replacing most of the steel body panels with lightweight composites like Kevlar and fiberglass and aluminium.

The all-aluminium five cylinder in-line engine was also a development of the existing design. It displaced just over 2.1 liter to slot into the three-liter class (for turbocharged engines a 1.4 equivalency factor was used). In competition trim, the turbocharged engine produced at least 350 bhp. As mentioned earlier the entire engine was mounted ahead of the front axle. Although this was not the most obvious location for the engine, it make installing the Quattro all-wheel drive system considerably easier. Page 1 of 3 Next >>